A blog dedicated to documenting my progression as a hobbyist, and my eternal indecision about what to paint next!

Rogue Squadron Standing By!

My previous post was a little rant-y, and for that I apologise sincerely. Certain things like bad sportsmanship REALLY get on my nerves, but I shouldn’t be repeatedly posting that on my blog, which was intended to be positive to the point of mindless optimism. The offending article has since been deleted, and I once again apologise to those who read it.

So… Happy thoughts!

A few weeks (months) ago, I started posting pictures of my latest hobby – the X-Wing Miniatures Game! This is an absolutely AMAZING game made by Fantasy Flight Games, and a must for Star Wars fans everywhere! The models are cast in decent-quality plastic at 1/270 scale, and for the size and cost are actually very nicely detailed! But I digress!

In my last X-Wing post, you saw how I’d repainted the trim on my X- and Y-Wings black. Well…never being satisfied with ANY paint job I do, I decided a repaint was in question. Cue the X-Wing series of books by Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston.

SPOILER WARNING! ANYONE READING THE SERIES BUT NOT ON BOOK FOUR YET, STOP HERE!

Following reading X-Wing: The Bacta War again, I decided my X-Wings would look REALLY cool if I repainted them in the custom colours of Rogue Squadron, after they leave the service of the New Republic and strike out on their own to defeat an evil warlord and long-standing enemy of peace, freedom and such. Each pilot repaints his or her X-Wing in their own colours, giving me a literal rainbow of colour to work with and play with. The work took a lot of research, and collecting eleven X-Wings together wasn’t easy either, but soon enough I had the tools and the material, and I set to work.

It was only after I started this project that I realised what kind of undertaking my Squadron was. Each X-Wing is 23 points basic for a generic Red Squadron pilot. Wedge Antilles is 29. So that’s 29 + (10×23) = 259pts BEFORE upgrades such as Astromech Droids, Torpedoes and such. A standard game of X-Wing is between 100pts and 150pts, which means that I could realistically play two separate games at the same time with my models. This concerned me for a moment, before that little voice in my head told me that a 300pt Squadron would be awesome, and that I should finish it anyway…

Another good site, and one which I particularly enjoy visiting, is A Few Maneuvers (AFM) – a fan forum dedicated to X-Wing, the Star Wars Card Game, and the new FFG Edge of Empire RPG:http://www.afewmaneuvers.com/

Both sites have many good, active members with their own opinions and way of thinking. Fantasy Flight’s forum is a little cluttered, as threads about everything are just lumped together, but with a little digging you can find what you want. AFM is split down into nice sub-categories, so if you have models you wish to show off or Squadron Lists you wish to have critiqued or help with, everything has its own place. I heartily recommend both forums to players both new and experienced!

If this blog post inspires anyone to try repainting their own models, or you’ve already done something similar, feel free to e-mail me at theramblingwargamer@gmail.com and I’ll feature your ideas and any photos you provide in my next entry🙂

X-Wing Core Sets are available in Waterstones in the UK, and at Target in the USA. Check online for other retailers.

Will you ever get around to adding the twelfth pilot that shows up later in the books (won’t mention said pilot’s name because spoilers)? I like the color scheme on that fighter a lot and I’d love to see you make it happen!